Jan 2019 - rolling back home again

 Went on 8km bushwalk in searing heat. Some of the group turned back halfway. I was worried that people would be hydrated enough. Not Chap - he thought it was very pleasant; he's used to working in much hotter conditions. The swim at the end here was truly fantastic.

 After camping, we drove back again to see Zereena, Neerav, Rojan and Rayan at home in Ashgrove. We did a bit of cricket. The kids watched the box, swam a bit, and played some devices. They were pretty excited to see each other again and catch up.

 The Granite Belt Brewery at Stanthorpe is just an awesome place. Delicious brews, great food, and the boys played ping pong, for the first time it seems, judging by their style. Ollie loved it so much, he wanted to come back again on the second night here. The hotel was a dive, but their pool and jumping air thing were great.

This place is so cool, it had a TV that rolled meme images. The boys loved it and photographed every single one.

A sample of the dozens on the TV at the brewery. Ping pong was better.

 Left - Prius off road machine. Every other car looked like serious 4wd's- at Boonoo Boonoo National Park, near the waterhole.

 Boonoo Boonoo is beautiful.

 Taking it easy after a dip at Boonoo Boonoo.

 I don't think I could have timed this shot better.

Only a fraction of a second off landing the perfect standing in mid-air photo. Missed by a knee length, dang it. Good spot to jump in the water.

This shot belongs at the top of this post - it was taken back in Bigriggen Campground.

Dec 2018

 Happy birthday Charlie!

 That's a big arse.

Us up the street punching in an ice cream.

 Leonie, Carol's daughter, Rubina, Tristan and Romain posing in the mountains near Nice.

A village perché, sent by Jean Louis, Sylvie or Gabriella.

The boys love their cat! Issy puts up with being picked up for a little while, then she'll start hissing. We're still working on her. Probably training with treats, maybe getting in Jackson Galaxie - the cat guy from TV could make her more sociable.

Christmas!

 The boys check out their pile of loot. Lou is most happy with his 6 monster trucks. A bit bigger than a matchbox car, but all the rage for a month or so..

Ollie's big ticket item is a (another) Nerf gun. This one is pretty big and the bullets are big, not so great to get hit with.

This year, we went out to Jason and Christie's. Tom and Melissa were in town.

A couple of days later, we set off for Brisbane to visit Bill, Sharnie, Chap and Jeannie. First stop was Armidale. The motel had a pool which was cool, fun and a bit cold after a half hour/hour of swimming.

A bit further on we got a big box of cherries near Tenterfield. The ones still on the tree were overripe but incredibly sweet, like liqueur, and as delicious.

 We got to Chaps the following day. This day we went to Southbank swimming. The big pool is just fantastic.

Chap and Jeannie's is a lovely old Queenslander in perfect condition. All the painting that would have to get done is boggling.

 Outside in the back yard.

Some serious Cluedo going on. Emma did fantastically well.

 A few days later we went to Bigriggen Campground, about an hour inland.

The guys did some board games between swimming, and lighting fires.

Dec 2018

Here's some photos of around where I work, for my own memories. Good old Macquarie Park - paradise for cars, not so great for walking on most roads.

 The road to the shopping centre for lunch. Most food places in the area are here. You can access the centre going via the fume congested car park (on the right in the shot).

You have to cross this round about two or four times a day. A constant stream of traffic menaces the peds. There are no pedestrian crossings.

 The renos - me and Marie spent several days cleaning dozens, maybe hundreds, of bricks. You can now see these on the feature wall of the kitchen.

At this time, the old kitchen was gutted out, and Ollie's room above had the floor boards, then the joists all stripped out, due to their aged poor condition.

 End of year - Ollie put this in the bin. The teacher pulled it out for us. Now it sits above the dining table, framed, in Crows Nest.

Checking the local street lights. This street is awesome for Halloween as well.

Class 5RR - messages for everyone, what a nice idea.

Lego robotics, Nov 2018

Ollie, Louis, Fin and co take on the Lego robotics competition!

 Fin, Ollie, robo hero, Raphie, another great team mate, and Lou prepare.

 Ollie says they came 7th, excellent.

 The final product.

Teams competed by completing a series of feats like carrying an object and place it, send a robot over a track, etc.

Nov 2018

Jeremy Slattery and Chap at our 30 year school reunion  - it's been 30 years since I left school? Eek!

Concentrated on getting my value out of the ticket by drinking all the beer possible. Was very good to bump into some old buddies from the good old days. I think I recognised more people than at the 20 year one. A lot of people lost some weight?

 Coming soon to a town where you live - massive development! A token green line to the right of the picture is Oxley Street where we lived. Glad we're not close to the mass of blue buildings. Not sure who's going to buy all these things. The market seems to be going down.

 At Olympic Park Homebush. This must be the boys favourite place to swim, with a whirlpool and tube slide. Nice!

 This must have been one time when I persuaded Marie to ride in to visit the builders. We found out too late that you're not supposed to ride here.

 Another great get together for Marie's brothers and sisters. Unfortunately at Stephen's dad's funeral. They had a great rolling selection of photos from the 60s on which was too interesting.

This might just have been the only protest organised on the North Shore for the new massive toll road. The Stop the Tunnel group organised this. We had several schools represented. Everyone knows the leading cities of the world are investing in rail, not 1950s road solutions.

Sadly the Libs got back in again at the election, so it's back to the drawing board for opposition to bad transport planning. The days of personal car transport are numbered with climate change currently out of control.

Ollie stands up for his rights!

 Love me, don't make me choke on more exhaust gas! The kids will suffer the consequences of our extravagant oil burning transport options, and forced car ownership.

 Larissa, right, the powerhouse behind the Stop the Tunnel group (along with several other passionate mums).

 Left, from Labor - the current (May 2019) opposition interim leader of the NSW state govt. opposition - Penny Sharpe (at left with black glasses), and Daniel Keogh the then Greens candidate for the seat of Willoughby (beard + glasses)

Right, Maryanne, aka "the Meth Chef" - her lab looks far too clean for that kind of thing! Could still be a lethal mix there.